... a miscellaneous hodgepodge of various thoughts, loosely held together by the fact that they're all emanating from a single mind. A lighthearted look at the world, a great place to waste a moment or two of your life.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

My first out-of-state blog.

Just last night I created my blog, today I'm posting from another state! On my son's birthday trip to the Gibson store. One thing I'd recommend if you have kids: do stuff with them. It really makes a difference. Out of letters, will elaborate l8r.

Ok, continuation (I'm back in town now, by the way). "Out of letters" - the MMS message format only allows a certain number of characters in the message (well, from my phone at least), so that's why I was "out of letters," and I couldn't remember the e-mail posting address for my blog, so I had to live with the MMS limitation.

As I was saying, I have taken to having a "trip with dad" on the kids' birthdays (sometime near, anyway). Since often Dad is the one who's not making enough time for the kids (and that's something I'm trying to work on, really!) it gives a chance for the child to have some one-on-one time with Dad, that child getting my full and undivided attention for a day (or more if the trip is overnight or longer, which so far has only occurred once). A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I went to see Phantom of the Opera in a nearby city. Both trips (then and today) were wonderfully fun. But, more than fun, it's a great time to build the relationship between father and child, a relationship that all too often these days is left undeveloped (or underdeveloped). Oh, and yes, I also do the same thing with my wife on her birthday! (Does that mean I get a day all on my own on my own birthday?)

Today we used my handheld GPS receiver (a Magellan eXplorist 500 LE) for our "maps" to the Gibson Store at Opry Mills, from there to the Guitar Center in Nashville, and from there back home. I let my son navigate. That made him the navigator. Now, navigators and alligators must be related (they both end in "gator"). But what if your alligator was also navigating? Would it then be a navalligator? Would you end up in a swamp in Florida? Would you be eaten along the way? These are questions that you can ponder during your next road trip.

Today we came home with no alligators. We came home with an Ibanez instead.

12 comments:

Hold up there buddy! As I recall you attempted to take me on a trip last year and did not plan it very well since there were no rooms for rent when we got to the town and we had to turn around and come back home. Then the next day you took me (AND THE KIDS) back to do a little shopping. Don't see much alone time there. Then this year you went out of town for the day of my birthday leaving me alone... plenty of alone time there. Me thinks you need to plan better next year before you do much more spouting of treating the wife the same. I'm actually quite surprised that you posted that. I would have thought I had made it clear that you were not giving me the same time and that you needed to plan better and give me that time. Even when you took me to Atlanta three years ago I had to plan the whole weekend, you just said "Hey, lets do this for your birthday." Sorry, babe but I can't let you get away with that doozy! I still love you though! ;o)

Besides, how was I supposed to know they were having both a fishing tournament and a wedding on the weekend of your birthday? Who ever figured Scottsboro would be such a tourist draw that they'd fill up all three hotels in the town? :)

Lack of knowledge is no excuse. You should have planned better! It isn't just about the time you spend with each of us, but about the effort you put into planning that special day. The planning shows your knowledge of what your children and your wife would enjoy. Anyone can say, hey lets do this, but planning takes more time, effort and heart. ;o) And I still love you!

I think the planning issue(or lack of) is a man thing. Jason is horrible at planning. I am still waiting for the day he arranges everything like childcare, Room, etc. So until then I guess I have to do it. :-) Glad to hear that it isn't just my husband who is a dork. LOL. I do love him also- Meaning my husband not yours. LOL

Um... Amanda, you said... "Glad to hear that it isn't just my husband who is a dork." That seems to imply to me that you are saying, "It's not just my husband who's a dork, but Ninfa's husband is too." And, since I'm Ninfa's husband, that would mean you were saying I'm a dork. But that's OK, you're the only person outside my family who's commented more than once... I appreciate the comments, even if they're insulting. :)